The satellites in question operate under the auspices of FSUE "Kosmicheskaya Svyaz". As Alexey Volin, General Director of FSUE "Kosmicheskaya Svyaz" and Chairman of the relevant Industrial Competence Center (ICC), noted at the SATCOMRUS 2024 international conference, they are planned to be replaced by 2030.
The replacement devices for the obsolete ones are expected to be sent into orbit from the end of 2026 to 2030. According to him, the launch of five satellites is scheduled for 2029.
This is a very tight schedule, and no single manufacturer can cope with such a volume in such a time frame. Therefore, we hope that JSC "RESHETNEV" and LLC "Gazprom SPKA", in a fair competition, will divide these orders between themselves.
One satellite for these purposes is already under development by JSC "RESHETNEV": it is a completely domestic "Express-AMU4", which will go into geostationary orbit in 2026. With its help, services will be provided in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East.
The second phase of the satellite replacement project will take place from 2032 to 2036, when it will become clearer which of the projects in low and medium orbits have worked and how much they are in demand. It is already clear that the priority will most likely be those that provide communication and internet in the Far East, Siberia, and the Arctic, in remote regions where terrestrial technologies are indispensable. In 2023-2024 alone, five "Express" satellites connected 126 hard-to-reach and remote settlements with a total population of 70 thousand people to their space communications.
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